Greetings from the Center for Campus History and happy Women’s History Month! The March edition of the newsletter celebrates women at UW-Madison and includes fresh Center research, some exciting TV news, events, new book and movie recommendations, and more!

The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Rebecca M. Blank Center For Campus History is an ongoing university effort to uncover and give voice to those who experienced, challenged, and overcame prejudice on campus. As always, if you have a story to share, an event you think should be researched, or a person you think has been overlooked, please email us at centerforcampushistory@wisc.edu.

Meet one of the Center’s student researchers — Peyton Prohuska!

Peyton is a junior majoring in art history with a focus on Arabic art and architecture; particularly how Islam as a religion impacts both. She is also pursuing a certificate in digital communications. Currently, her CCH research is mainly focused on UW–Madison traditions, both old and new. 

Outside of work, Peyton loves to crochet and rewatch the Twilight Saga over and over.

New research alert!!

There was snow on the ground when a Madison police officer and a Pinkerton agent arrived on campus in February 1911 to investigate the rape of a sorority house mother. Agents kept arriving over the coming months as more reports of sorority break-ins and sexual harassment of students rolled in. It was the dead of summer by the time the investigation wrapped up and the (at least) eight private detectives returned to Chicago. Coordinated with UW President Charles Van Hise and funded by the governor and a wealthy parent, the investigation was kept a “strictly a confidential matter,” hiding all evidence of the agents’ presence from students, staff, faculty, parents, and the public.

Read more of this fascinating story from CCH researcher Kyle Miron in Siftings, the Center’s digital publication of research and writing. 

So, no big deal or anything, but did y’all hear we’re ON TV!!?? 

We’re thrilled to be a part of The Look Back, a new series from PBS Wisconsin Education. The Center’s own Kacie Lucchini Butcher and Taylor L. Bailey are among the amazing lineup of hosts on the show, which explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts.

The collection, created for learners in grades 4-6, features 11 short episodes hosted by Wisconsin-based historians who share artifacts, ask questions, visit archives and museums, tell the

story of their findings and make connections to our lives today. The hosts examine items spanning eras in Wisconsin history, beginning before Wisconsin’s statehood with Ho-Chunk dugout canoes and traveling to the modern day with Trek bicycles.

Don’t feel like you’ve gotten in enough celebrating for UW–Madison’s 175th anniversary? Well don’t worry because there’s still one more blow-out coming up!

The university is opening its doors wide, inviting everyone to a 175th Anniversary Community Open House April 5-7. On deck: family-friendly fun, interactive science and art activities, Bucky Badger and much more — all on campus, all open to the public and all free, even the 175 S’more Years ice cream.

Make sure to visit the Center staff at the UW Archives on Saturday, April 6th from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. for “Behind the Boxes: A Peek at the Artifacts Behind UW-Madison’s 175 Year History”. Read the lineup for the whole weekend here.

Each month, we like to share one of the many (many… many… ) books that have helped the Public History Project’s research. For March we have a good one, along with some extra exciting news!

Davarian Baldwin’s In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower is an eye-opening and thoroughly researched exploration of the outsized role that American universities play in the cities they call home. A leading urbanist, cultural critic, historian and Trinity College professor, Baldwin lays out a case that big-business modern universities incur significant costs from the communities that live in their shadows. 

But that’s not all! We’re beyond excited to cohost Davarian Baldwin on campus in April. Students can join Baldwin for a conversation over lunch about community organizing and navigating academia. Interested students can RSVP for the April 18 event (11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Memorial Union) here.

We get asked a lot of questions about UW history. Each month we’ll answer one in the newsletter. 

This month: Who was the first female professor at UW-Madison?

The answer: It’s hard to say for sure. Records from the first decades of the university are sparse and it’s very possible that women may not have been mentioned in them regardless. But according to research from On Wisconsin Magazine, around the same time that female students were first admitted to the university in the 1860s, there were at least two women working as assistant instructors in their classrooms. Anna W. Moody of Geneva and Clarissa Ware of Madison both served in the Normal Department – the education school for female students. 

You can read more about trailblazing women faculty in the alumni magazine.

If you have a question, email us at centerforcampushistory@wisc.edu. 

Each month Center Director Kacie Lucchini Butcher will share a book, podcast, movie, quote, or something else she thinks has been adding to the CCH. We're calling it "From The Desk of KLB".

This month From The Desk of KLB, Kacie says: “This has nothing (well not nothing) to do with history (**nothing to do with Wisconsin history) but I saw Dune [Part Two] and it rocked.” 

Hey, it doesn’t always have to be academic. But if you’re really hungry for some extra history, NRP’s excellent podcast Throughline did an episode on the franchise. Or give a read to this oral history of the making of David Lynch’s original 1984 film adaptation.